


Of Grief and Comfort

by ElaOfAsgard



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29323770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElaOfAsgard/pseuds/ElaOfAsgard
Summary: Hela comforts reader after a devastating family loss.
Relationships: Hela (Marvel)/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Of Grief and Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Two years and two days ago, my brother died after an aneurysm, and it rocked my entire family. I had a lot of feelings, and wasn't sure how to process them, so I turned on some sad music and wrote this as a way to cope at the time.
> 
> Please read with caution if loss of a family member is something that will upset you, and to those of you that this resonates with, I am so very sorry for your loss.

Hela took care opening the door as she came into the bedroom, closing it softly behind her as she tiptoed over to the edge of your bed and knelt down beside you, taking a few moments just to look at you.

You met her gaze blankly, eyes rimmed with red, tearstains down your cheeks, and expression unreadable. Her concerned gaze was too much for you to deal with, but you found yourself too tired and filled with grief to try to look away, so instead you just looked at her, let her see you, see your emotions, your _pain_.

Slowly, as though she were afraid she might break you, she reached a hand to cup your face gently, the pad of her thumb brushing so, so carefully across your cheek. She said nothing for a long time, just continuing to watch you in silence as she caressed your face, and when she finally spoke, her voice was soft, hardly above a whisper.

“Y/N, you have to eat…”

You shook your head, as you had every single time she came into the room trying to get you to eat even just _one bite_ of a meal. And just as _she_ always did in response, she smiled a little sadly. Usually, she wouldn’t push the matter, and would accept your answer, but this time, she lingered, staring at you hardly, but not unkindly.

“Darling… It’s been a week. If you don’t start eating again soon, you’re going to make yourself sick.”

You tore your gaze from hers, looking down in what you were sure looked like stubbornness, or perhaps shame, but all you could feel was the grief that had made itself home in your heart.

You weren’t a child. You knew how life worked, how _death_ worked. You knew you would lose people in your life, sometimes before you were ready to. But you’d never imagined that at _this_ young of an age, you’d be losing your own brother. It had all happened so suddenly, you hadn’t known how to comprehend, weren’t even sure that you _could_. And then the funeral had come, and you had dropped everything for the few days you could afford to come back home for it so you could be with your family, and everything had hit you with such sudden intensity that you weren’t sure that you knew how to go on living as you had before everything had changed.

“Hey… Y/N, come back to me…” Hela’s voice was so _soft_ that you could hardly bear it, and you realized that you had started crying again. Hela brushed her thumb over your cheek gently one more time before she carefully pulled the covers back and crawled in with you, and you inched backward the slightest bit to accommodate her.

As soon as she’d gotten comfortable, she pulled you into her arms, cradling your head in the crook of her neck and pressing soft kisses to the top of your head. Your silent weeping became shaking, body-wracking gasps for air as you sobbed, wrapping your arms around Hela’s waist as she held you impossibly closer.

“I know, my darling, I know… It hurts to feel like this, I know… But you _need_ to. You need to feel all of this grief and pain and sorrow so that one day you can start to heal. Perhaps it won’t be tomorrow. It might not even be this week, or this month, or perhaps even this year. But in time, you’ll feel a little more like yourself. Things will be like they once were.”

You shook your head definitively, and swallowed thickly as you tried to speak through your tears. “It won’t be the same… Not without him.”

Hela pressed another kiss to the top of your head, and ran her fingers through your hair gently. “You’re right. It won’t be. But you’ll have to find a new normal. A normal that has to exist without him… Even though that thought brings more pain than you can bear right now.”

You buried your face further into her shoulder, and Hela took to gently rubbing your back with a hand, unsure what else she could say or do at the moment. So instead of speaking, she sang. A soft lullaby in Old Norse, one you had come to learn that she had been sung when she was a child. It often brought you comfort, but right now, it made you mourn for your _own_ childhood. For a moment in time when you and your brother were together, and had your whole lives in front of you.

But Hela was trying so hard, you didn’t have the heart to tell her that the words stung in a way that you knew she didn’t mean them to, so you just pressed yourself closer to her, hiccupping as your sobs slowly gave way back to quiet crying. Even then, Hela still held you tightly, fiercely, as though simply by holding you she could combat everything that you were feeling, or perhaps take them on herself so that _you_ wouldn’t have to hurt anymore.

Slowly, Hela drew back to look at you properly again, though you kept your eyes closed, and she cupped your face with both hands, wiping your tears away, despite the fact that they were still coming. For a long time, the both of you just laid there in silence, just letting the small act of laying together try to bring some comfort to the both of you. When the quiet became a little too much for you to bear, you finally opened your eyes, meeting Hela’s gaze for a few moments before you spoke.

“Do you think he’s hurting… wherever he is?” Your voice was so timid and small that in any other situation, you would have been embarrassed by it.

Hela shook her head immediately. “He isn’t hurting anymore. He’s calm and relaxed and happy.”

You sniffled quietly. “How can he be happy, if we’re not together?”

“Well…” Hela paused for a moment, considering the best way to word what she wanted to say. “He’s happy because he knows how much you love him, and care for him… And because he knows that one day you’ll still be together again… even though that day is a long way off.”

You bit back another sob, and rubbed at your eyes before covering them in shame as you started to cry harder, even as you nodded, silent proof that you had understood and taken to heart what Hela had said. But even though that might be true, and even though you were glad he wasn’t hurting any longer, it still left _you_ , and your family, with an almost _unbearable_ amount of pain, and you weren’t sure you’d be able to cope with it.

Hela pulled you back against her chest, cradling your head once more as she murmured a soft apology for upsetting you again. You wanted to shake your head, but you just couldn’t find the energy to do so. So you just laid there and let her soothe you and comfort you as best she could.

You weren’t sure for how long exactly that you ended up crying, but eventually, you had tired yourself out to the point of closing your eyes, on the very edge of drifting off to sleep, and Hela had drawn back to gently comb her fingers through your hair as she watched you.

“Y/N, I know you think you aren’t going to make it through this…” Her voice was so soft that you were certain she thought you were asleep and couldn’t hear her. “I know you think that you’re going to hurt and grieve forever, but you are so much stronger than you realize, and you will find happiness again someday. And I promise to help you in every way that I can. I _promise_.”

With those words echoing in your mind, you finally let yourself fall asleep, just as Hela pressed a kiss to your forehead and murmured a quiet ‘I love you.’

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you for reading and for the endless support.


End file.
